1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of distributed authoring systems, and more particularly pertains to the implementing of authoring controls within the authoring system. Moreover, the invention is directed to providing the authoring system with an improved and novel mechanism for displaying content using access control structures for the authoring system.
In essence, authoring systems, which may also be known as authoring tools or authorware in technological and commercial applications, may be programs existing in hypertext and multimedia applications. Pursuant to more sophisticated applications, in internet, on-line or CD-ROM programs, the authoring systems may be scripting language or graphics elements, or may even represent a mixture of textual (teaching tools, printed works and the like) material, graphical representations, audio data and numerous, practically unlimited types of objects or programs. These authoring systems are ordinarily developed and designed by authors who define the relationships of the foregoing aspects with each other, and sequencing the programs in an appropriate order for data storage.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the present state of the technology and industry, authoring systems are adapted to control authoring access, generally to an authoring system utilizing various control parameters such as check-in/check-out, access control lists, profiles and predefined roles which are assigned to various authors of the system.
In various of the presently developed and known authoring systems, the access control mechanisms which facilitate access to the authoring system are specified or predefined by the system itself; whereas, other authoring systems do not provide access control systems or similar arrangements.
For instance, presently employed authoring systems utilize so-called content marking architectures which possess the capability of using content marking to control shared authoring functionality and end user display, but have not implemented any such system. Existing systems define a predetermined number of attributes which can be assigned to a predetermined set of contents, and used by a predetermined set of logic so as to control display of the marked content in a predetermined manner. However, the foregoing concept which is evident in the current state-of-the technology, is limited in scope and in inherent aspects of not providing control structures for dynamically changing a display through a suitable selection mechanism of the authoring system.